Saturday, November 26, 2016

Let’s keep this short, because while Jeremy Lin is out, the Brooklyn Nets are somewhere between tanking and being the worst in the NBA without meaning. They’ve lost six consecutive games, the most recent one by 21 points to the Indiana Pacers. Next up are the Sacramento Kings, but without Lin, does it matter?

The Nets started out pretty good in this one, but after taking a six point lead midway through the first quarter, were held to just 3 points in the next 7 minutes. The Pacers took it from there, making it a blowout by the end of the first half. Without a point guard who knows how to run this team, the only thing that can actually save the Nets is Bojan Bogdanovic and/or Sean Kilpatrick going off unexpectedly. Both of them didn’t, as Kilpatrick did nicely with 16 points, but that’s not enough when Bogdanovic finishes with 8 points on 3-for-10 shooting.

In their current losing streak (six), the Nets have given up 111 points or more in each game. They;ve managed to make a relatively close one out of it only once, losing by 7 in Los Angeles the Lakers. The rest? All losses by 19 points or more, looking miserable on defense and stuck on offense whenever the game hits a crucial stretch.

When will Lin be back? No one knows. Caris LeVert? No one knows. Rondae Hollis-Jefferson is out as well right now. The Nets? They’re trying with Yogi Ferrell and Isaiah Whitehead, but that’s the opposite of helpful at times. This team can’t move forward without the player it’s all supposed to work around. In the meantime, not getting blown out feels like an achievement, but right now it’s difficult keeping up with even the more limited teams in this league.

Meanwhile, Lin has been writing stuff down on the bench. At least Kenny Atkinson is happy with that. What happens on the court doesn’t seem to be giving him too much comfort.

Linology. It’s beautiful. It’s his way of showing he cares. He asked me if he could do it, and I said, ‘Yeah, sure.’ And he just does it, and he hands it to me after every game, and then I hand it to – you know, I’m not exactly sure where it goes.